Wobbly Chairs May Affect Your Values

A wobbly chair is more than just annoying. Believe it or not, it can influence your values, or beliefs about others.

Past studies have shown a link between physical objects and our emotions. Carry a cold drink at a party and you’re likely to consider other guests cold and offputting. Hold a warm drink, and you tend to perceive those same people as warm and welcoming.

In a new study, subjects sat either on wobbly chairs or stable chairs. While seated, they were asked to gauge the stability of several celebrity relationships, for example, Jay-Z and Beyonce.

Subjects in wobbly chairs judged the celebs to be more likely to break apart, while those who sat on a solid chair felt the celebrity relationships were also solid and more likely to remain intact. The study is in the journal Psychological Science.